About Yerkes Park

Yerkes Park is located in southwest Jacksonville – part of the Ortega neighborhood that was designed by prominent architect, Henry J. Klutho, and developed in 1909 by the Ortega Company, headed by John N. C. Stockton and Charles C. Bettes. The City annexed the area in 1925, and officially acquired the property from the developer in 1938, with the stipulation that it be utilized as a park. The triangular-shaped park is named for Captain Jonathan Yerkes Jr. (1918-1943), the son of a prominent local family who lived on Grand Avenue in Ortega. He was killed in action during WWII, while serving as an infantry officer in North Africa. The Yerkes family owned the well-known Florida Hardware Co. that began business in 1886. Yerkes Park is an integral part of Old Ortega, which was designated a Historic District and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
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